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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Airport Extreme And Cable Broadband
tallone - Jun 25, 2005 - 7:07 pm
New ibook g4 and airport extreme base station; Motorola SurfBoard 4100 cable modem; connecting to existing (and functioning) cox high speed internet to run a wireless network.
Problem: the g4 can "see" the router; Internet connect says I am connected via airport and connected to the internet, but I cannot get to the internet. Web pages just hang and eventually time out. In all my fiddling, ON OCCASION I've been able to get to the internet, but after about 15-30 seconds the connection is lost. Internet connect still shows full "bars" and reads as connected.
The one oddity: In Airport Admin Utility, I see an IP address, a subnet address, and a router address, all supplied by the Cox dhcp server. The router address is similar in the numbering scheme to the IP address. However, when I look at the Network utility (System Prefs: Network:Airport:TCP/IP), the router IP address is 10.0.1.1. The computer IP address is valid (10.0.1.2) - the router IP address is different than what is shown in Airport Admin Util. Should the router addresses be different?
BTW, I've powered on and off all equipment, I've reset the airport extreme base station, and all cabeling is working fine. I took the g4 and the base station to a nearby apple store and was able to connect to the base station without problem.
Could the modem be incompatible? Does cox have issues with Macs, OSX 10.4 (Tiger)? Does Apple have issues with Motorola cable modem? What's going on???
I know I'm rambling a bit, so I'll stop there, but can provide more as needed.
Frustrated,
TallOne
Problem: the g4 can "see" the router; Internet connect says I am connected via airport and connected to the internet, but I cannot get to the internet. Web pages just hang and eventually time out. In all my fiddling, ON OCCASION I've been able to get to the internet, but after about 15-30 seconds the connection is lost. Internet connect still shows full "bars" and reads as connected.
The one oddity: In Airport Admin Utility, I see an IP address, a subnet address, and a router address, all supplied by the Cox dhcp server. The router address is similar in the numbering scheme to the IP address. However, when I look at the Network utility (System Prefs: Network:Airport:TCP/IP), the router IP address is 10.0.1.1. The computer IP address is valid (10.0.1.2) - the router IP address is different than what is shown in Airport Admin Util. Should the router addresses be different?
BTW, I've powered on and off all equipment, I've reset the airport extreme base station, and all cabeling is working fine. I took the g4 and the base station to a nearby apple store and was able to connect to the base station without problem.
Could the modem be incompatible? Does cox have issues with Macs, OSX 10.4 (Tiger)? Does Apple have issues with Motorola cable modem? What's going on???
I know I'm rambling a bit, so I'll stop there, but can provide more as needed.
Frustrated,
TallOne
skapp - Jun 25, 2005 - 8:16 pm
The cable modem is an older model. You might see if they'll swap it and give you a Motorola 5100 model. I have one at home with my RoadRunner ISP and another in Canada on my Shaw ISP. Both work just fine with an AEBS.
Be sure you have the cabling done properly, though. An Ethernet cable should run from the cable modem to the WAN port on the AEBS (that's the leftmost Ethernet port with the O=like symbol. Assuming you are connecting the computer wirelessly this is the only connection to the AEBS. Shutdown the computer and disconnect power to the AEBS and the modem. Wait at least 30 seconds to a minute. Then power on the cable modem first and wait until the lights show a connection. Next power on the AEBS. You should see the activity light on the modem indicate it is connected to the AEBS. Wait until the AEBS lights stop flickering and only the middle light is on steady. Now turn on the computer. Open the Network preference pane, select the Airport entry and click on Configure. Click on the the Airport tab and set the dropdown menu to Automatic. Check the box to show Airport in the menubar. Click on the TCP/IP tab and set the Configure dropdown menu to DHCP and click the Apply button. You should shortly see your connection IP address appear. By default they should be in the 10.0.nnn.nnn range. The router address should be 10.0.1.1 and the computer address will be something higher than that. Mask should be 255.255.255.0. Click on the IPv6 configure button and set it to off in the dropdown menu. Close Network and open the Sharing pref. pane. Check the computer name you have selected. Change it to be one word, all letters, no punctuation, spaces, etc., and not more than 12 characters long.
Quit System Preferences and open your Airport Admin Utility. Configure a network name. Do whatever other configuration you need and then click the Update button. If you haven't updated your AEBS firmware and Airport software you should do so. AEBS firmware update is 5.5.1 and the Airport software version is 4.1. You should probably do the updates, if needed, before all the above rather than after.
When all the above is done click on the Airport icon in the menubar, turn Airport on, and connect to your network name you configured. This should get you connected.
Be sure you have the cabling done properly, though. An Ethernet cable should run from the cable modem to the WAN port on the AEBS (that's the leftmost Ethernet port with the O=like symbol. Assuming you are connecting the computer wirelessly this is the only connection to the AEBS. Shutdown the computer and disconnect power to the AEBS and the modem. Wait at least 30 seconds to a minute. Then power on the cable modem first and wait until the lights show a connection. Next power on the AEBS. You should see the activity light on the modem indicate it is connected to the AEBS. Wait until the AEBS lights stop flickering and only the middle light is on steady. Now turn on the computer. Open the Network preference pane, select the Airport entry and click on Configure. Click on the the Airport tab and set the dropdown menu to Automatic. Check the box to show Airport in the menubar. Click on the TCP/IP tab and set the Configure dropdown menu to DHCP and click the Apply button. You should shortly see your connection IP address appear. By default they should be in the 10.0.nnn.nnn range. The router address should be 10.0.1.1 and the computer address will be something higher than that. Mask should be 255.255.255.0. Click on the IPv6 configure button and set it to off in the dropdown menu. Close Network and open the Sharing pref. pane. Check the computer name you have selected. Change it to be one word, all letters, no punctuation, spaces, etc., and not more than 12 characters long.
Quit System Preferences and open your Airport Admin Utility. Configure a network name. Do whatever other configuration you need and then click the Update button. If you haven't updated your AEBS firmware and Airport software you should do so. AEBS firmware update is 5.5.1 and the Airport software version is 4.1. You should probably do the updates, if needed, before all the above rather than after.
When all the above is done click on the Airport icon in the menubar, turn Airport on, and connect to your network name you configured. This should get you connected.
tallone - Jun 26, 2005 - 3:29 pm
As it turns out, my mother-in-law has the SB5100 modem. I tried that but no help. I had also done most of what you suggested already, other than having a computer name with spaces and punctuation (Fred's Laptop).
So, here is what happened: Last night I decided to start from scratch. Did a hard reset on the aebs and deleted all the network settings on my laptop. setup the aebs as you suggested and in addition set the wireless settings to 807xx g (instead of b/g compatible). After all this setup, I was on! This was about 11:00 at night. I stayed on the net for an hour; I lost the 'net once but just restarted the aebs and was back up and running. After an hour I went to bed. In the morning I couldn't get on again. I restarted the aebs and was able to make it to a couple of web pages before I lost the connection.
All of this occurs whith a full 4 bars showing on Internet Connect and Network reads connected. Everything is fine. Very frustrating.
Nobody has yet answered my question about the different router IP addresses, though. Is this normal? Airport Admin shows a router IP address of 68.7.xxx.xx (very similar to the IP address) but Network Prefs shows a router IP address of 10.0.1.1. Could this have anything to do with it?
I can't believe I'm the only one in the world that can't get a freakin wireless network setup! Help!
F
So, here is what happened: Last night I decided to start from scratch. Did a hard reset on the aebs and deleted all the network settings on my laptop. setup the aebs as you suggested and in addition set the wireless settings to 807xx g (instead of b/g compatible). After all this setup, I was on! This was about 11:00 at night. I stayed on the net for an hour; I lost the 'net once but just restarted the aebs and was back up and running. After an hour I went to bed. In the morning I couldn't get on again. I restarted the aebs and was able to make it to a couple of web pages before I lost the connection.
All of this occurs whith a full 4 bars showing on Internet Connect and Network reads connected. Everything is fine. Very frustrating.
Nobody has yet answered my question about the different router IP addresses, though. Is this normal? Airport Admin shows a router IP address of 68.7.xxx.xx (very similar to the IP address) but Network Prefs shows a router IP address of 10.0.1.1. Could this have anything to do with it?
I can't believe I'm the only one in the world that can't get a freakin wireless network setup! Help!
F
skapp - Jun 26, 2005 - 4:57 pm
The 68.7.xxx.xxx is the "real" IP gateway address that the AEBS draws from the cable modem. The AEBS will in turn act as a router between the cable modem and the network parcelling out network IP addresses. The AEBS gatewau is 10.0.1.1.
Frankly, I'm puzzled since you seem to get a connection that works, but then lose that connection.
I'm going to return you to the open question pool since I cannot seem to help you get the problem solved. Perhaps another user will have a solution.
Frankly, I'm puzzled since you seem to get a connection that works, but then lose that connection.
I'm going to return you to the open question pool since I cannot seem to help you get the problem solved. Perhaps another user will have a solution.
skapp - Jun 26, 2005 - 7:11 pm
I did some additional research and found the following:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106858.
I don't know if you've seen it or not, but thought I'd pass it on just in case.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106858.
I don't know if you've seen it or not, but thought I'd pass it on just in case.
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